Martina Navratilova.....

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

.....was lucky to survive HAPE on Kili.

http://7volcanoes.com/news/all/item_2140/

 

[TomD]

She is lucky. When I had it, I was fortunate that I wasn't in the boonies, but at home in a big city, so it was just a matter of my folks driving me to the clinic where I stayed for about a week or so hooked up to oxygen and an IV.

In case you are wondering, I was at 11.5K ft. and had just flown in the night before to La Paz, Bolivia from the States. I woke up in the morning coughing up blood, so it wasn't a pretty picture.

A few times after that I went up as high as 16K, with no problems so you never know, but those times I had spent a lot of time at altitude so conditioning is a big help from my experience.

 

[Adk_dib]

You just never know until you do it. Someone who keeps in such good shape as she does still got it.

 

[DougPaul]

You just never know until you do it. Someone who keeps in such good shape as she does still got it.

Physical conditioning does not help altitude acclimatization. It has been suggested that it can help one get too high too quickly...

Doug

 

[TomD]

Physical conditioning does not help altitude acclimatization. It has been suggested that it can help one get too high too quickly...

Doug

I'm not a doctor, but from personal experience, Doug is right. When I lived in La Paz, some people would get off the plane and be fine, while others would pass out after a few minutes of just standing or walking around. It seemed to be random. The airport is at 13.5K ft., so that is pretty high for no acclimatization.

I got sick right after I got there the first time and was hospitalized for a week or so. Can't remember what it was that time, but might have been pneumonia-which has similar symptoms to HAPE, as I recall. The second time, which I mentioned above, was also right after arriving from sea level. I went back and forth a few times and those were the only two times I got sick. I've read about people getting altitude sickness at much lower levels-maybe around 7K and its nothing to fool around with. Once you go back down, unless your lungs are full or almost full of water (like mine were) you can recover on your own in a fairly short while.

 

[Gris]

Wow!

I met and chatted with her a few times, a SUPER good-hearted lady. Good to know she is still with us!